Scheming All Day Long

After they left, Grace said to Evan Xiao, "Once the Celestial Empress recovers, let's tell her the truth! Even if she doesn't like me anymore after knowing, I don't want to deceive her."

Evan Xiao nodded.

"Take me home!" Grace yawned. "I didn't sleep at all last night, I'm exhausted."

"What were you doing in the tree?"

"...Yesterday, Rong Yin was nearly strangled by a vine up there. I was just checking what kind of plants were growing, and got a little lost in thought."

"Always scheming," Evan Xiao blurted out.

"Scheming? Where did that come from?"

"You said you were leaving, but you deliberately told Li Zan as an excuse. Weren't you just trying to make me worry and come after you?" Evan Xiao said.

Grace: "..."

So you're admitting you were worried?

"If you put all those hundred clever tricks into cultivation, you'd have reached Grandmaster by now," Evan Xiao added.

Grace: "..."

What are you hoping I'll do once I reach Grandmaster, huh? Ahem...

As they spoke, Evan Xiao had already brought Grace back to the thatched hut.

"Go to sleep! I'll come get you after dark," Evan Xiao said.

"Mm." Grace nodded.

Evan Xiao turned to leave.

But Grace grabbed his sleeve.

Evan Xiao looked back at her, and she tiptoed up to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

Today, it was the first time she'd seen Evan Xiao talking with his ministers, and she'd wanted to do this ever since.

She snuggled up close, sweet and soft, then pulled away again.

Evan Xiao's blood rushed downward, his gaze darkening as he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing! Go on, get out of here! I'm going to sleep!"

Evan Xiao's lips curled into a smile. He pinched her cheek and turned to leave.

Grace lay down on the bed and took out that bead, examining it from every angle.

What did they say this was called again?

Radiant Celestial Parasol?

Is this really a parasol?

How do you open it?

She fiddled with it for ages but couldn't figure it out, so she tucked the bead into her Sanctum and took a nap.

After she was feeling refreshed, she climbed back up the tree.

Last night, she'd already discovered a deeper way to communicate with the First Spirit Tree.

Which was—get as close to it as possible.

So she pressed her whole body against the tree.

She felt as if she and the King Tree had become one.

She could sense the peaceful, gentle flow of spiritual energy from every leaf of the King Tree.

She could see every bird and vine on the King Tree, each one caressed by its spiritual energy, as the King Tree thanked them for keeping it company.

Following the King Tree's roots, which stretched everywhere, she saw even more...

All First Spirit Trees are rooted, independent yet all interconnected.

Through its roots, Grace saw a vast web covering all of Drake Abyss.

They generated spiritual energy, creating a magical ecological field, which gave rise to the current Divine Realm of Drake Abyss.

She saw the source of the Drake Abyss Nine Waters...

It was a place where the roots of countless Spirit Trees tangled and converged, and their magical fields overlapped, causing a shift in space.

There, nine separate spaces had formed.

Spiritual energy kept gathering in these spaces, turning into liquid, then dripping down through the cracks.

That was the Drake Abyss Nine Waters.

What dripped from the void wasn't actually water.

It was spiritual liquid formed from concentrated magical energy.

Unlike spirit jade, which forms over billions of years, this spiritual liquid was the freshest, purest magical energy.

But something had latched onto the King Tree.

It kept draining the King Tree's spiritual energy and vitality, causing it to wither day by day.

Because of this withering, the King Tree's magical field kept weakening, causing the nine spaces to change or even disappear. That's why the Drake Abyss Nine Waters were drying up!